More woes for Europe's air industry

Wednesday, July 27, 2016 - 01:19

Air France-KLM joins other European airlines in warning of the impact of recent militant attacks and political uncertainty, while Airbus takes a 1.4 billion euro hit over its troubled A400M troop plane and A350 jetliner. Laura Frykberg reports on a sector under pressure.

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Revenues at Air France-KLM have taken a dive.
Falling 5.2 percent in the second quarter.
Other airlines are struggling to take off too.
Germany's Lufthansa last week warned its earnings are likely to stall.
EasyJet said it was unable to give an earnings forecast - because of uncertainty.
SOUNDBITE) (English) PANMURE GORDON, CHIEF ECONOMIST, SIMON FRENCH, SAYING:
"Aviation has been hit domestically here in the UK by Brexit worries over the implications of the Brexit vote on those highly profitable routes between the UK, hub airports and into the European Union. But there's a much broader set of factors that are weighing on airlines. And of course that is the unfortunate headlines that we see almost daily around terrorist attacks."
Plane provider Airbus has also had a rocky ride.
Problems with its new A400M troop plane and A350 jetliner have, it says, cost it a billion and a half dollars.
Its shares though rose 4 percent.
Powered by helicopter and defence units outperforming forecasts.
And the company sticking to its targets for the year.

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